Can I Give My Baby Albuterol?

If your baby is having trouble breathing, you might have considered giving them albuterol. This is a rather strong drug that is used to help relax the airways and open the air flow to the lungs so a person can breath easier.

Perhaps nothing is more troubling than if your baby is having trouble breathing. It makes you feel helpless as a parent, and you want to take immediate action so they’re not suffering from this problem for very long. But even though it can be hard to be patient, you have to calm down and make the right choice for your baby’s overall health and well-being.

Giving your baby albuterol is not recommended without first talking to your doctor, telling them what the symptoms are, and perhaps even taking your baby in for a check-up. Only the pediatrician can properly diagnose your baby and decide if this is the right course of action. In most instances it’s not what is prescribed, but sometimes it is so it’s good to know all of the facts first.

Can I Give My Baby Albuterol? By Prescription Only.

Your doctor may prescribe albuterol if they feel it is what your baby needs in order to solve their problem. You might also find that they give you a similar product to fix things, one that has less side effects, or is specially formulated for infants. They might also tell you that your baby needs to kick the problem on their own to help strengthen their immune system. It’s best to get your doctor’s opinion rather than thinking you’ll just give them albuterol on your own. There are simply too many side effects to consider.

Side Effects
One of the reasons why you want to be cautious about giving your little one albuterol without the direction of your doctor is the list of side effects that come along with them. And keep in mind that these are the effects for adults, not counting babies, which are still developing and can have even more or different side effects to watch out for.

One of the surprising side effects is that it can actually make the symptoms you’re treating worse. You might end up causing more wheezing and tightness of the chest than when you started. If your baby had trouble breathing before they could have even more trouble after starting them on albuterol. They could have pain in their chest, and it might make even make for an irregular heartbeat. It’s been known to increase blood pressure, causing all of the effects that come with high blood pressure, including seizures and bad headaches.

You might make it so you baby has trouble sleeping, or comes down with a cough, has a sore through, or has sinus problems. They could also get diarrhea, or have dry mouth that can’t be fixed by simply giving them water. The list of side effects is pretty extensive, and the problem is that because your baby can’t tell you how they’re feeling aside from crying or being fussy you’ll just be shooting in the dark as far as determining what the problem is.

Rapid Heartbeat
The biggest side effect that is seen in children and is the most alarming is the rapid heartbeat that can come with using albuterol. This almost seems like you are solving one problem but causing another. There is a lot to consider if you’re the parent of a child that is having trouble with their respiration. You might think that you’re picking the lesser of two evils, and you might even feel bad that you have to cause some other problems just to fix one.

Things to Consider
You might wonder if your doctor prescribed albuterol because they think your child is asthmatic. But just because that was prescribed it doesn’t mean that your baby has asthma or that you should be overly worried that they’ll get it. Many babies come down with a bout of wheezing, so this by itself is not reason to become alarmed that there’s a bigger problem at hand. Share with your doctor your concerns and they’ll be able to address them individually.